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Pune RTO drives fail to ensure safety of schoolchildren in the city

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Recent incidents such as a school bus catching fire and a narrow escape for another has put a big question mark on the safety of school bus transport in Pune. More than 50 per cent schools are yet to form the mandatory school bus safety policy panel, many schoolchildren are still crammed in auto rickshaws.

The Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) too hasn’t done much than an occasional drive and lip service. In the past 11 months, the only action that Pune RTO took in this regard were special drives, in February and in July.

The first drive in February checked 700 school transport vehicles and 248 vehicles were nabbed. In July, more than 62 school transport vehicles were fined for not complying with the 10 parameters laid down by the Pune RTO. But the action stopped there.

Of the 2,187 private schools in the city, only 753 have transport committees. Despite several drives by Pune RTO, things haven’t changed as the number is yet to cross the 1,000 mark.

Deputy RTO Ajit Shinde said,  “We held several meetings with the school authorities and asked them to form committees and issued notices.” He  said the RTO held awareness camps and told school transport owners about the mandatory parameters, but it hasn’t had any impact so far. “We will start our special drive against the school transport and catch the offenders,” he promised, yet again.

What does the rule say?
- Number of kids allowed: As per the RTO rules and regulations, a private school van is allowed to accommodate only 12 schoolchildren, and the auto rickshaw is allowed to accommodate only four.
- Transport committee: A transport committee should be formed in all the schools which are using transport for its students. The committee should comprise RTO officer, principal of the school, traffic police department and one representative of the school transport and parents.
- School bus safety norms: The school bus should have a fire extinguisher, speed governance,emergency exit, name of the school, first aid kit, rods on the window.
- Auto-rickshaw: The auto-rickshaw can only accommodate four school children. The vehicle should have hard surface roof, fencing doors with locks on both sides.

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